Big Car

April 2025 First Friday at Tube Factory artspace
2025-04-04 18:00 - 22:00 (America/Indiana/Indianapolis) | Tube Factory artspace, 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Join us on Friday, April 4 from 6 to 10 pm at Tube Factory artspace for the opening reception of “Illuminate” — presented by artists in Big Car’s affordable housing program and Indiana Peer Education Program (INPEP) — in the Guichelaar house gallery.
In addition, Jason Wesaw’s “Sovereign Spirits” in the Main Gallery; Steven Yazzie and Nancy Baric’s “The Nearness of Distance” in the Efroymson Gallery; and Davis Henderson’s BODEWADMI NDAW in the Video Room are continuing.
And Normal Coffee will be offering beverages for purchase, as well.

* Update: There will not be a food truck due to current weather conditions.

Illuminate
2025-04-04 18:00 - 2025-05-09 18:00 | Guichelaar Gallery, 1125 Cruft Street, Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Art shifts how we see and understand the world around us.
Many art shows by artists who are or have been incarcerated aim to capture their experience being impacted by the legal system. While this awareness is important, the lived experience overshadows the expression of artists to show their craft, practice, and work. Illuminate brings to light the achievements and artistic talents of some of Indiana’s finest visual artists, storytellers, and sculptors.
The opening reception will be on Friday, April 4 from 6-10pm at Guichelaar Gallery on the Tube Factory campus. The last day to see Illuminate is Friday, May 30.

2025 Levitt VIBE Indianapolis Music Series: April Concert
2025-04-13 12:00 - 15:00 | Tube Factory artspace, 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Big Car Collaborative and Arte Mexicano en Indiana are thrilled to continue as part of a national program to bring FREE, high quality, live concerts through the Levitt VIBE Indianapolis Music Series! In this — the second year of the series here — we’ll bring the free musical entertainment to our Tube Factory campus once a month over seven Sundays. We’re also adding cultural aspects like traditional dance performances and opportunities for local artists and artisans to sell their work as part of these lively community events.
When: Noon to 3 pm on April 13, May 18, June 8, July 13, Aug. 10, Sept. 14, Oct. 12.
Where: Tube Factory campus, on the near southside of Indianapolis, at 1125 Cruft St. — Concerts will happen at the amphitheatre in our Terri Sisson Park greenspace and move inside Tube Factory in bad weather. While there will be some provided seating at this outdoor event, we encourage visitors to bring blankets or other lawn seating for them to enjoy during the event.
Who: Big Car Collaborative and Arte Mexicano en Indiana collaborating with partners, sponsors, and local and national musicians, local vendors, artists, and creatives.
Why: To bring additional liveliness to an underused area of our neighborhood with free outdoor music experiences and neighborly, inclusive, fun, and creative social gatherings.
April 13’s lineup:

Daglio (Latin rock)
Laura Kay & the Bootleggers (country)
Joshua Powell (indie rock)
Food Truck: Chef Dan’s (Cajun/Southern-style food)

And:

Open picnicking (people can bring their own food and drink) is encouraged
Fun games will be on-site
Tube Factory galleries will be open
Bean Creek Outlook and Terri Sisson Park nature spaces will be open

Learn more about the series here.
_
Thanks to the Levitt Foundation, Efroymson Family Fund, Lumina Foundation, and MIBOR REALTOR Association for their generous support of Levitt VIBE Indianapolis!
The Levitt VIBE Indianapolis Music Series is supported in part by the Mortimer & Mimi Levitt Foundation, which partners with changemakers and nonprofits across the country to activate underused outdoor spaces, creating welcoming and inclusive destinations where the power of free, live music brings people together, fosters belonging, and invigorates community life. www.levitt.org

NIGHTJAR: Liz Whiteacre
2025-04-16 19:00 - 21:00 | Tube Factory artspace, 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Doors at 6:30 pm, Reading at 7 pm
Featured Poet: Liz Whiteacre
Open mic prompt: Write a poem about diagnosis. Or write a poem about resilience.
Read a poem or short piece that is 317 words maximum, and challenge yourself to share new work!
—
Featured Artist Bio: Liz Whiteacre’s poetry explores accident, disability, aging, and wellness. She is the author of Hit the Ground (2013), it could account for the panic (forthcoming 2025), Hindsight 20/24 (forthcoming 2026). Her poems have appeared in Wordgathering, Disability Studies Quarterly, Kaleidoscope, Breath & Shadow, Flying Island, and other publications. Whiteacre is an associate professor of English at the University of Indianapolis. She teaches writing and publishing there, as well as advises Etchings Press.
—
NIGHTJAR creates an inclusive space for all by bringing together spoken-word performers and page-based poets writing in narrative, lyric, and experimental forms. Every third Wednesday, C.S. Carrier and Michelle Niemann host a reading and invite audience members to share their own poetic responses.

Current State 2025: Herron's Electronic Music Showcase
2025-04-27 11:00 - 15:00 | Tube Factory artspace, 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Featuring more than 20 performers, CURRENT STATE is a live concert event putting the talent of Herron School of Art and Design music students on display.

Students from Herron’s undergraduate music technology program will present original works drawn from a wide array of musical styles including electronic pop, house, hip-hop, noise, experimental, and beyond.

Herron’s music technology program is proud to partner with Big Car Collaborative, whose Tube Factory artspace will serve as a stage for this exciting afternoon of live music.

Open Bocce Play!
2025-04-27 12:00 - 15:00, 2025-05-04 12:00 - 15:00 | Terri Sisson Park, 1125 Cruft Street, Indianapolis
Grab some friends or neighbors and come by to enjoy Tube Factory’s Bocce court! The outdoor court is located to the left of 1207 Cruft Street, down Cruft past Tube Factory. Enjoy the weather, Terri Sisson Park, and our community with open bocce ball!

May 2025 First Friday
2025-05-02 18:00 - 22:00 | Tube Factory artspace, 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
New Exhibit Opening: Ben Hall: Trunk Rattle Sound Bath in the Jeremy D. Efroymson Gallery
Continuing Exhibits:

Jason Wesaw: Sovereign Spirits in the Main Gallery
Davis Henderson: BODEWADMI NDAW in the Video Room
ILLUMINATE in Guichelaar Gallery

Food truck: RMY’s Soul/Comfort Food
Coffee & Other Beverages: Normal Coffee
Free for the whole family

Ben Hall: Trunk Rattle Sound Bath
2025-05-02 18:00 - 2025-06-15 17:00 | IN
Trunk Rattle Sound Bath merges ongoing areas of Ben Hall’s research into polyrhythm (the simultaneous use of two or more contrasting rhythms), sonic immersion, and ancestral resonance through the lens of embodied listening. The title draws from the cultural experience of low-end frequencies booming from car trunks — windows shaking with no discernible rhythm, the body absorbing it all. “Vibrational frequencies are in everything,” Hall says. “Our bodies. We are observing by vibration even when we shut down. Our nervous system is still there, thrumming.”
With this new body of work, Hall focuses on not just what is played or heard, but what is felt, what is transferred through vibration, what buzzes and rattles in the body long after the source has passed. The body is a resonant shell for the vibrations that occur all around us. “The 17th-century Dutch physicist Christian Huygens observed the entrainment of pendulums,” Hall explains. “He noted in 1655 that if two pendulum clocks were placed near each other, they would synchronize. They wanted to be in rhythm with each other — but it was, and is, not instant. That move toward synchronization, toward harmony… The experience of rhythm, of immersion in sound, of allowing your body to be an entire resonating chamber is to allow that process to begin each time — and allow for the vibration to be you.”
Inspired by the mbira, a traditional African thumb piano with metal tines and built-in buzzers used in spiritual ceremonies to connect with ancestors, Hall draws a throughline from West African sonic cosmologies to Midwestern street corners. “Those buzzes are supposed to be the actual frequencies that cut through to the ancestors,” he says. “The consequence of the sound is what communicates with another world.” In this way, the sound bath is not a cleansing ritual in the New Age sense, but a full-bodied immersion in histories.
Hall makes the connection between the mbiras of tradition and the trunk rattle of modernity. “When you are at the red light next to the Buick,” Hall says, “you’ll notice that the rattling and buzzing is not consistent with the rhythm created by the bass frequencies coming from the vehicle. Often, it will seem that the rattling of your windows — a different distance, a different material from the sound maker — is not even related at times to the rhythm, as though the frequencies you’re hearing in the passing vehicle are somehow coincidental to the vibration in your home.”
Trunk Rattle Sound Bath invites visitors to consider rhythm not only as musical but as a way of knowing, of feeling, of remembering. “When a frequency, a sound (but also a rhythm, a repetition) occurs to us at a different frequency than the one we live in,” Hall says, “we are receiving energy. Frequency is just another way to say energy.” Whether through sound, image, or movement, Hall’s work opens a space for that energy to circulate — and for the body, buzzing like a loose antenna, to receive it. “Vibrational frequencies are in everything,” Hall declares.
About the artist: Ben Hall is an artist and composer based in/from Detroit, Michigan. He was profiled in Fred Moten’s 2017 book, Black and Blur and frequently works as a critic and essayist with a research focus on the visionary American composers Milford Graves and Bill Dixon. He formerly served as a senior research fellow at the Center for the Advancement of Public Action at Bennington College from 2018-2022. He has presented prints, drawings, film, sculpture and works for sound in numerous exhibitions including the solos Jives & Gambles at Essex Flowers in NYC and Slow An Alarm Until It’s A Tone at MOCAD (Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit). He is currently compiling material for the forthcoming publication, A Black Liberation Music Guide.
Curator: Landon Caldwell
Live performance: June 8, 12pm by Hall’s ensemble, Oceanic Beloved.
This exhibition is made possible by the Indy Arts Council and the City of Indianapolis, the Indiana Arts Commission, Allen Whitehill Clowes Charitable Fund, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, and Efroymson Family Fund.

Power Plant Grant Applications Open
2025-05-05 08:00 - 2025-07-18 23:30 | IN
Power Plant Grants — run by Big Car Collaborative and funded by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts — support visual artists who live or work in Indianapolis with project grants of $12,000.
Each year — based on selections by an independent panel — five individual artists or teams will receive awards of $12,000. Round 5 applications are scheduled to open on Monday, May 5 and close Friday, July 18 this year.
2025 Power Plant Grant Deadlines & Important Dates:

Monday, May 5 – Application opens via Submittable

Monday, June 23, 7 - 8 p.m. – In-person information session (at Tube Factory artspace)

Friday, June 27, 5-6 p.m. – Online Zoom information session (Link coming soon)

Friday, July 18 – Applications close online, at 11:59 p.m. EST

Monday, Aug. 11 – All applications notified if they will proceed to the final round

Saturday, Aug. 23 – Artists’ presentations at Selection Panel meeting in-person in Indianapolis

Monday, Aug. 25 – Award recipients Notified

Friday, Sept. 12 – Public Announcement of the 2025 Round 5 Awards

Friday, October 10 — Gathering & Celebration Dinner with all Power Plant Grant recipients

Lockerbie Place Pop-up | May 6
2025-05-06 11:30 - 13:30 | Needler’s Fresh Market, 320 N New Jersey St, Indianapolis, IN, 46204, United States
Lockerbie Pop-Up Public Place
May 6: 99.1 WQRT FM DJ Mix + T’Days Jerk food truck
Lunchtimes at Lockerbie Place
Stop by to enjoy the peace and quiet and various activities that this downtown green space has to offer — along with a soundtrack provided by live musicians or a WQRT FM DJ from right here in your city. It’s free to attend! Challenge a friend to a game of ping pong , play giant Jenga, and find your new favorite musician or food truck.
When? Every Tuesday from May 5 through Sept. 22, 2025. Food trucks and activities on site from 11:30 am-1:30 p.m. and live music or WQRT DJ (alternating weeks) 12-1 p.m. Games are out all of the time!
Where? This program happens at 320 N New Jersey Street in the greenspace right off the Cultural Trail, next to Needler’s Fresh Market.
Who? This creative placemaking project is by Big Car Collaborative and made possible by CitiMark and Gershman Partners.
Check @SparkPlaces on Instagram for Lockerbie lineups + updates!

Sketch Club with India Hines
2025-05-07 15:00 - 17:00 | IN
If you love sketching and are looking for community, come hang out and draw with our longterm artist in residence, India Hines.
India Hines, a self-taught artist from Denver, CO, and raised in Indianapolis, IN, uses ink, watercolor, and oil paints to explore spirituality and the subconscious. Their intuitive process results in figurative faces and organic shapes that reflect a journey of growth, resilience, and love. India’s art is deeply meditative, rich with emotional depth, and narrates stories of overcoming adversity. Active in community projects and exhibitions, India believes in art’s power to unite and continues to push creative boundaries while exploring personal growth and self-discovery

Open Bocce Ball!
2025-05-11 12:00 - 15:00, 2025-05-18 12:00 - 15:00, 2025-05-25 12:00 - 15:00, 2025-06-01 12:00 - 15:00, 2025-06-08 12:00 - 15:00, 2025-06-15 12:00 - 15:00 | Terri Sisson Park, 1125 Cruft Street, Indianapolis

Lockerbie Place Pop-up | May 13
2025-05-13 11:30 - 13:30 | Needler’s Fresh Market, 320 N New Jersey St, Indianapolis, IN, 46204, United States
Lockerbie Pop-Up Public Place
May 13: Kara Cole + Arepas food truck
Lunchtimes at Lockerbie Place
Stop by to enjoy the peace and quiet and various activities that this downtown green space has to offer — along with a soundtrack provided by live musicians or a WQRT FM DJ from right here in your city. It’s free to attend! Challenge a friend to a game of ping pong , play giant Jenga, and find your new favorite musician or food truck.
When? Every Tuesday from May 5 through Sept. 22, 2025. Food trucks and activities on site from 11:30 am-1:30 p.m. and live music or WQRT DJ (alternating weeks) 12-1 p.m. Games are out all of the time!
Where? This program happens at 320 N New Jersey Street in the greenspace right off the Cultural Trail, next to Needler’s Fresh Market.
Who? This creative placemaking project is by Big Car Collaborative and made possible by CitiMark and Gershman Partners.
Check @SparkPlaces on Instagram for Lockerbie lineups + updates!

2025 Levitt VIBE Indianapolis Music Series: May Concert
2025-05-18 12:00 - 15:00 | Tube Factory artspace, 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Big Car Collaborative and Arte Mexicano en Indiana are thrilled to continue as part of a national program to bring FREE, high quality, live concerts through the Levitt VIBE Indianapolis Music Series! In this — the second year of the series here — we’ll bring the free musical entertainment to our Tube Factory campus once a month over seven Sundays. We’re also adding cultural aspects like traditional dance performances and opportunities for local artists and artisans to sell their work as part of these lively community events.
When: Noon to 3 pm on April 13, May 18, June 8, July 13, Aug. 10, Sept. 14, Oct. 12.
Where: Tube Factory campus, on the near southside of Indianapolis, at 1125 Cruft St. — Concerts will happen at the amphitheatre in our Terri Sisson Park greenspace and move inside Tube Factory in bad weather. While there will be some provided seating at this outdoor event, we encourage visitors to bring blankets or other lawn seating for them to enjoy during the event.
Who: Big Car Collaborative and Arte Mexicano en Indiana collaborating with partners, sponsors, and local and national musicians, local vendors, artists, and creatives.
Why: To bring additional liveliness to an underused area of our neighborhood with free outdoor music experiences and neighborly, inclusive, fun, and creative social gatherings.
May 18’s lineup:

Sweet Poison Victim (cross-cultural rock)
Hush Hush (rock)
Akustico (Latin romantic)
Food Truck: Chef Dan’s (Cajun/Southern-style food

And:

Open picnicking (people can bring their own food and drink) is encouraged
Fun games will be on-site
Tube Factory galleries will be open
Bean Creek Outlook and Terri Sisson Park nature spaces will be open

Learn more about the series here.
_
Thanks to the Levitt Foundation, Efroymson Family Fund, Lumina Foundation, MIBOR REALTOR Association, Eskenazi Health, Penrod Society, and Rundell Ernstberger Associates for their generous support of Levitt VIBE Indianapolis!
The Levitt VIBE Indianapolis Music Series is supported in part by the Mortimer & Mimi Levitt Foundation, which partners with changemakers and nonprofits across the country to activate underused outdoor spaces, creating welcoming and inclusive destinations where the power of free, live music brings people together, fosters belonging, and invigorates community life. www.levitt.org

Lockerbie Place Pop-up | May 20
2025-05-20 11:30 - 13:30 | Needler’s Fresh Market, 320 N New Jersey St, Indianapolis, IN, 46204, United States
Lockerbie Pop-Up Public Place
May 20: 99.1 WQRT FM DJ Mix + J&J Taste of Home food truck
Lunchtimes at Lockerbie Place
Stop by to enjoy the peace and quiet and various activities that this downtown green space has to offer — along with a soundtrack provided by live musicians or a WQRT FM DJ from right here in your city. It’s free to attend! Challenge a friend to a game of ping pong , play giant Jenga, and find your new favorite musician or food truck.
When? Every Tuesday from May 5 through Sept. 22, 2025. Food trucks and activities on site from 11:30 am-1:30 p.m. and live music or WQRT DJ (alternating weeks) 12-1 p.m. Games are out all of the time!
Where? This program happens at 320 N New Jersey Street in the greenspace right off the Cultural Trail, next to Needler’s Fresh Market.
Who? This creative placemaking project is by Big Car Collaborative and made possible by CitiMark and Gershman Partners.
Check @SparkPlaces on Instagram for Lockerbie lineups + updates!

NIGHTJAR: Derek Mong
2025-05-21 18:30 - 20:00 | Tube Factory artspace, 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Derek Mong will begin reading at 7pm.
After Lynch’s reading and a brief break, the open mic will begin.
Open mic prompt: Write a poem about a beautiful catastrophe.
About Derek Mong:
Derek Mong is the author of When the Earth Flies into the Sun (October 2024), The Identity Thief (2018) and Other Romes (2011)—all from Saturnalia Books. A chapbook, The Ego and the Empiricist (2017), was a finalist for the Two Sylvias Press Chapbook Contest. His collaborative translation, The Joyous Science: Selected Poems of Maxim Amelin—completed with his wife, Anne O. Fisher—received the 2018 Cliff Becker Translation Prize.
A poet, essayist, and translator, Derek’s work appears widely: the Kenyon Review, Blackbird, At Length, Pleiades, Verse Daily, the Missouri Review, Two Lines, Poetry Northwest, and in the anthology, Writers Resist: Hoosier Writers Unite (2017). He has blogged for Kenyon Review Online, where he wrote a series of Leaves of Grass beer reviews, and written essay-reviews for Gettysburg Review. He is currently a Contributing Editor at Zócalo Public Square and, along with his wife, edits At Length, a literary journal devoted to long work.
New poems and essays have appeared in the Houston Chronicle, the LA Times, Zócalo Public Square, Free Inquiry, Always Crashing, Walt Whitman Quarterly Review, and the Boston Globe. His latest long poem, “Midnight Arrhythmia,” was published in Action, Spectacle.
An Associate Professor and Chair of the English Department at Wabash College (Crawfordsville, Ind.), Derek holds degrees from Stanford University (M.A. Ph.D.), the University of Michigan (M.F.A.), and Denison University (B.A.). Born in Portland, Oregon and raised outside of Cleveland, Ohio, he currently lives in West Lafayette, Indiana with his wife and son.
@derek_mong
NIGHTJAR creates an inclusive space for all by bringing together spoken-word performers and page-based poets writing in narrative, lyric, and experimental forms. Every third Wednesday, C.S. Carrier and Michelle Niemann host a reading and invite audience members to share their own poetic responses.

Lockerbie Place Pop-up | May 27
2025-05-27 11:30 - 13:30 | Needler’s Fresh Market, 320 N New Jersey St, Indianapolis, IN, 46204, United States
Lockerbie Pop-Up Public Place
May 27: Peyton Womock + FILLERS Stuffed Burgers food truck
Lunchtimes at Lockerbie Place
Stop by to enjoy the peace and quiet and various activities that this downtown green space has to offer — along with a soundtrack provided by live musicians or a WQRT FM DJ from right here in your city. It’s free to attend! Challenge a friend to a game of ping pong , play giant Jenga, and find your new favorite musician or food truck.
When? Every Tuesday from May 5 through Sept. 22, 2025. Food trucks and activities on site from 11:30 am-1:30 p.m. and live music or WQRT DJ (alternating weeks) 12-1 p.m. Games are out all of the time!
Where? This program happens at 320 N New Jersey Street in the greenspace right off the Cultural Trail, next to Needler’s Fresh Market.
Who? This creative placemaking project is by Big Car Collaborative and made possible by CitiMark and Gershman Partners.
Check @SparkPlaces on Instagram for Lockerbie lineups + updates!

SPARK on the Circle 2025 Opening Weekend
2025-05-31 09:00 - 2025-06-01 21:00 | Monument Circle, 50 Monument Circle, Indianapolis, 46204, United States
SPARK on the Circle is BACK for 2025!
To kickoff the 2025 season, SPARK will host the Big Gay Pride Market on the Circle from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, May 31 and Sunday, June 1.
In addition, SPARK will be open from 9 a.m. until dusk from May 31 through Sept. 28. SPARK offers shaded seating, fun games, free activities, artist workshops, live music, and more.
SPARK is a partnership with Big Car Collaborative, Downtown Indy, Inc., and the City of Indianapolis Department of Metropolitan Development — with support from the Indiana War Memorials Commission. It is a continuation of Big Car’s work in 2024, 2023, 2022, and in 2015 on the Circle.
At Big Car, we approach our work at the Circle as a site- and community-specific socially engaged art and creative placemaking project. The SPARK on the Circle pop-up park was collaboratively designed with Indianapolis-based Merritt Chase to be a restorative public place where people of all walks of life can relax, play, socialize, and engage with art and artists in the heart of our city.

Lockerbie Place Pop-up | June 3
2025-06-03 11:30 - 13:30 | Needler’s Fresh Market, 320 N New Jersey St, Indianapolis, IN, 46204, United States
Lockerbie Pop-Up Public Place
June 3: 99.1 WQRT FM DJ Mix + 3 Marias Mexican food truck
Lunchtimes at Lockerbie Place
Stop by to enjoy the peace and quiet and various activities that this downtown green space has to offer — along with a soundtrack provided by live musicians or a WQRT FM DJ from right here in your city. It’s free to attend! Challenge a friend to a game of ping pong , play giant Jenga, and find your new favorite musician or food truck.
When? Every Tuesday from May 5 through Sept. 22, 2025. Food trucks and activities on site from 11:30 am-1:30 p.m. and live music or WQRT DJ (alternating weeks) 12-1 p.m. Games are out all of the time!
Where? This program happens at 320 N New Jersey Street in the greenspace right off the Cultural Trail, next to Needler’s Fresh Market.
Who? This creative placemaking project is by Big Car Collaborative and made possible by CitiMark and Gershman Partners.
Check @SparkPlaces on Instagram for Lockerbie lineups + updates!

June 2025 First Friday at Tube Factory artspace
2025-06-06 18:00 - 22:00 | Tube Factory artspace, 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Join us at Tube Factory artspace to celebrate June First Friday!
All-new exhibit:

Will Higgins’ Museum of Fabulosity opens in Guichelaar Gallery

Continuing exhibits:

Jason Wesaw’s Sovereign Spirits in the Main Gallery
Davis Henderson’s BODEWADMI NDAW in the video room
Ben Hall’s Trunk Rattle Sound Bath in the Efroymson Gallery

In addition, Normal Coffee will be offering beverages for purchase and 3 Marias food truck will be on-site serving up delicious Mexican food. ☕️ 🌮
Free to attend and welcome to all ages.
*Please note that the “Picnic at the Park” wearable art performance by Mo Gio has been rescheduled to Friday, Sept. 5 due to rain.

Will Higgins: Museum of Fabulosity
2025-06-06 18:00 - 2025-09-21 15:00 | Tube Factory artspace, 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
June 6 through Sept. 21 | Guichelaar Gallery at the Tube Factory artspace campus | 1135 Cruft St.
“It’s widely held that Indianapolis is a boring place with a dull, vanilla past.
That notion is wrong.
Yes, the city is a “good place to raise a family” and yes, it’s a “sports capital.”
But it’s also freaky.
People don’t realize this because staid, well-meaning chamber-of-commerce types have swept the weird bits of Indianapolis’ history, the truly interesting and truly human stories, under the rug.
Finally, along comes the Museum of Fabulosity to look under the rug.
Included in this pop-up museum, made to resemble a small-town history museum, are 16 amazing stories, many so strange they may seem made-up. But they are not made up. They are all absolutely true. They are paired with amazing photographs and also fabulous objects that approximate long lost Indy icons — boxing gloves worn by Lou Thomas the night he killed Arne Andersson; the chair Cannonball Adderly tipped back in the night he discovered Wes Montgomery; James Snow’s Panama hat; Jinx Dawson’s skull; Max Emmerich’s spikes…”

— Will Higgins

2025 Levitt VIBE Indianapolis Music Series: June Concert
2025-06-08 12:00 - 15:00 | Tube Factory artspace, 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
RAIN OR SHINE — CONCERTS WILL MOVE INSIDE TUBE FACTORY IF THERE IS POOR WEATHER
Big Car Collaborative and Arte Mexicano en Indiana are thrilled to continue as part of a national program to bring FREE, high quality, live concerts through the Levitt VIBE Indianapolis Music Series! In this — the second year of the series here — we’ll bring the free musical entertainment to our Tube Factory campus once a month over seven Sundays. We’re also adding cultural aspects like traditional dance performances and opportunities for local artists and artisans to sell their work as part of these lively community events.
When: Noon to 3 pm on April 13, May 18, June 8, July 13, Aug. 10, Sept. 14, Oct. 12.
Where: Tube Factory campus, on the near southside of Indianapolis, at 1125 Cruft St. — Concerts will happen at the amphitheatre in our Terri Sisson Park greenspace and move inside Tube Factory in bad weather. While there will be some provided seating at this outdoor event, we encourage visitors to bring blankets or other lawn seating for them to enjoy during the event.
Who: Big Car Collaborative and Arte Mexicano en Indiana collaborating with partners, sponsors, and local and national musicians, local vendors, artists, and creatives.
Why: To bring additional liveliness to an underused area of our neighborhood with free outdoor music experiences and neighborly, inclusive, fun, and creative social gatherings.
June 8’s lineup:

Heaven Honey (indie pop)
Mariachi Band Zelaya (traditional Mexican folk)
Ballet Folklorico Mosaicos (traditional Mexican folk dance)
Oceanic Beloved (avant garde jazz)
Food Truck: RMY’S Soul/Comfort Food (Southern-style/comfort food

And:

APLR Market (Big Car artist residents market)
Open picnicking (people can bring their own food and drink) is encouraged
Fun games will be on-site
Tube Factory galleries will be open
Bean Creek Outlook and Terri Sisson Park nature spaces will be open

Learn more about the series here.
_
Thanks to the Levitt Foundation, Efroymson Family Fund, Lumina Foundation, MIBOR REALTOR Association, Eskenazi Health, and Penrod Society for their generous support of Levitt VIBE Indianapolis!
The Levitt VIBE Indianapolis Music Series is supported in part by the Mortimer & Mimi Levitt Foundation, which partners with changemakers and nonprofits across the country to activate underused outdoor spaces, creating welcoming and inclusive destinations where the power of free, live music brings people together, fosters belonging, and invigorates community life. www.levitt.org

Lockerbie Place Pop-up | June 10
2025-06-10 11:30 - 13:30 | Needler’s Fresh Market, 320 N New Jersey St, Indianapolis, IN, 46204, United States
Lockerbie Pop-Up Public Place
June 10: Keith Beaty + The Garnacha Spot food truck
Lunchtimes at Lockerbie Place
Stop by to enjoy the peace and quiet and various activities that this downtown green space has to offer — along with a soundtrack provided by live musicians or a WQRT FM DJ from right here in your city. It’s free to attend! Challenge a friend to a game of ping pong , play giant Jenga, and find your new favorite musician or food truck.
When? Every Tuesday from May 5 through Sept. 22, 2025. Food trucks and activities on site from 11:30 am-1:30 p.m. and live music or WQRT DJ (alternating weeks) 12-1 p.m. Games are out all of the time!
Where? This program happens at 320 N New Jersey Street in the greenspace right off the Cultural Trail, next to Needler’s Fresh Market.
Who? This creative placemaking project is by Big Car Collaborative and made possible by CitiMark and Gershman Partners.
Check @SparkPlaces on Instagram for Lockerbie lineups + updates!

Lockerbie Place Pop-up | June 17
2025-06-17 11:30 - 13:30 | Needler’s Fresh Market, 320 N New Jersey St, Indianapolis, IN, 46204, United States
Lockerbie Pop-Up Public Place
June 17: 99.1 WQRT FM DJ Mix + Heine’s food truck
Lunchtimes at Lockerbie Place
Stop by to enjoy the peace and quiet and various activities that this downtown green space has to offer — along with a soundtrack provided by live musicians or a WQRT FM DJ from right here in your city. It’s free to attend! Challenge a friend to a game of ping pong , play giant Jenga, and find your new favorite musician or food truck.
When? Every Tuesday from May 5 through Sept. 22, 2025. Food trucks and activities on site from 11:30 am-1:30 p.m. and live music or WQRT DJ (alternating weeks) 12-1 p.m. Games are out all of the time!
Where? This program happens at 320 N New Jersey Street in the greenspace right off the Cultural Trail, next to Needler’s Fresh Market.
Who? This creative placemaking project is by Big Car Collaborative and made possible by CitiMark and Gershman Partners.
Check @SparkPlaces on Instagram for Lockerbie lineups + updates!
